MYSTERY surrounds the future of one of Birmingham’s best known French restaurants.

Regular customers say a closed sign has been hanging outside Corporation Street diner Michelle’s La Bastille for more than a fortnight.

One local newsagent, who asked not to be named, said: “It seems that they closed down during the bad weather over Christmas.

“We’ve had people coming in asking about it, but the owner never said a thing to us about not opening.

“That restaurant has been there for years, and they’ve never closed once for a holiday or any other reason, it’s normally really popular.”

Customers who had booked Christmas events at the French restaurant have had to use the nearby Pizza Express after finding La Bastille’s door closed.

One regular diner said: “When we were there over the festive period, it was a lot quieter than usual. They had a lot of cancellations over Christmas and New Year because of the terrible weather conditions, but they seemed pretty sure that people would reschedule.”

William Noblett, who runs La Bastille, was unavailable for comment.

He has previously complained that scaffolding work at the Central Hall building next to his restaurant was causing problems.

Last February he said: “It just looks a mess, it’s bad for the area.’’

At a planning meeting in January 2009, Mr Noblett spoke against the developers of the Victorian hall, saying the scaffolding was only in place to support lucrative advertising space, and had become a “grotesque scar” on the building.